Saturday, June 20, 2015

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Looking forward to when my next picture book comes out. Here's a glance at the cover. The Curvy Tree is written by the amazingly talented Chris Colfer. It's actually a story from within his Land of Stories series. Pretty fun stuff!

Wednesday, December 05, 2012

Shadow Mountain has game (pun totally intended). The new book in Brandon Mull's Candy Shop War series comes with more than just an incredible story and sweet cover art (if I do say so myself), inside you'll find a pretty awesome game. Here's a link to explain more: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLtQmqv4RAo

Saturday, November 10, 2012

It was a super big privilege to work with Brandon Mull and Shadow Mountain again on our new picture book, Pingo and the Playground Bully. It's been out for about a month and getting some great reviews. Check it out! http://brandonmull.com/site/pingo-books

Tuesday, October 09, 2012

My blog told me this morning that if I didn't post something soon it would leave me. Can't have that. So the something is a portrait from a photo. I do a lot of stylized work, that is was really relaxing having all the info that I wanted right there in front of me to pick and choose from. Enjoy. :)

Thursday, June 14, 2012

One of the wonderful art directors I work with sent me a note and this link a week ago. It looks like Pirates of the Sea! was given an honor award by Minnesota State University Moorhead. Mega or modest, it's always a great feeling to see your work appreciated. Thanks to those who took a chance on Cap'n Bones and his swashbuckling pirate crew!

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Every so often I get a chance to do book interior illustrations. I love doing them. True, from a money standpoint they are not all that profitable, but there is something about a B&W small spot piece of artwork that is so enjoyable. Today, I'm working away on 6 interiors for the new Janitors book by Tyler Whitesides, but I've attached some here that I recently did for The Land of Stories. Hope you like them!

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Just thought I would give a shout out to Canyon Vista Elementary, and say "thanks for having me!" Two weeks ago, while on a trip to sunny southern California, I was privileged to do an assembly here. The students were great. They had insightful questions and welcomed me with lots of smiles. We talked about what they like to draw and how to use your imagination. It's alway a blast to visit young students and feed off their enthusiasm. I love doing these visits. I just need to figure out how to incorporate my ukulele playing somehow. :)

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Why is creating weird and gross characters so fun? I've often commented that the my least favorite thing to paint is teen girls ( though, I love creating images so much, I still like painting them ) because everything on them has to be so perfect. I mean, if a teen girl's nose is a little off it shouts ERROR!! But, on a gross-monster-zombie-weird-guy, if the nose is out-of-wack it is the coolest thing! And in 20 minutes you can create something like this. Gross is fun, it's just plain and simple. :)

Thursday, February 09, 2012

Thought I would post a cover that I recently did for a new series. It's called The Land of Stories, by Chris Colfer. He is the actor in the popular show Glee. Unfortunately I've not seen the show( sorry Chris! ), but I've loved working on the artwork for this book. Aside from the cover, I've done 25 interior black and white illos and am currently working on a super cool fold out map. The story introduces a great new twist on all of our favorite characters from storybook tales like Cinderella and Snow White.

Friday, February 03, 2012

Over the last few months (in between work) I've been searching for a character that I could create a series of stories around. And I think I've finally found one . . . He is not any particular animal, but just a fun fuzzy, uh. . . creature. His name is still up in the air, but these are a couple I'm toying with:

Hal-o. (That's Hal with an o added to the end.)
Bazooki. (I heard this on the radio and thought it was fun to say.)
Wynn (It sounds a little British to me, but hey maybe he's European)
Cory (A little too ordinary . . . but it could still work.)

Monday, January 30, 2012

Thursday, January 26, 2012

I took a few minutes this morning to paint something out of my norm. I really think it's valuable to take a breather from deadlines and just enjoy making an image. That's why we're illustrators, right? We love making good images. Below is a quick painting from a photo I had sitting on my desktop. When painting from a photo like this, I try and find a way to enhance what is working well in the original image . . . while painting this, it was really relaxing. I felt kinda like I was getting a message. Though, I've never had a massage, but I can imagine what it's like: painting a small farm church at dusk. . . ? :)

Wednesday, November 09, 2011

I was venting to my 6 year old son about how each day goes by so fast and before I know it, it's been a month or more since I posted last. "Yeah Dad, I know, theses days are just like cheetahs!"

One of the projects that has caused these "cheetah days," is a new "I can read" series by Greenwillow Books called Axel the Truck. The first two books are done . . . all 45 illustrations. I had a great time working on them. The only twist here, is that they are digital only. The download is available for the ipad on itunes and for the Nook on Barnes & Noble. And what's even more cool, is the second book is FREE for a limited time! Check it out. :)

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Just thought I would post up a few Horrorland covers I did within the last year. I really enjoy working on all the Goosebumps covers. I hope you like the artwork. In truth, the concepts for these are very specifically directed by Scholastic. The team there is great to work with. :)